Moxie by TUA · Los Angeles
Hello!
I'm Ema.
Web designer, developer and brand strategist. Founder of Moxie by TUA, formerly The Umbrella Agency, in Los Angeles since 2009.
- Strategy byEma
- Design byEma
- Development byEma
- Knows where
everything livesAlso Ema.
I also keep a short list of highly skilled pros on speed dial for the times when a piece needs their particular brand of magic. That's the "we."
But make no mistake, I am the show runner here.
That’s a long time staring down the barrel of “I swear I’ll redo it this year” websites.
These days I build confident, high-performing sites and brand strategy for bold creatives and the small product businesses they grow into.
The central theme remains simple. I turn "I've outgrown that" into "now this finally feels like me."
The studio
Moxie by TUA is the latest evolution of The Umbrella Agency, the studio I’ve run since 2009.
At the desk
LA
Taking the long way around
Before any of this, I ran creative departments in film.
So I've shipped under real deadlines with even realer money on the line, and managed people at their most stressed. That's where I learned to spot plot holes three steps before hitting anyone's desk. And to speak fluent creative and fluent business in the same sentence, which turns out to be most of this job.
I left that world and started hand-coding sites in Dreamweaver. No drag, no drop. You opened the blank file and you typed, blindly. That's why nobody's back end scares me today, and why "any platform, any problem" is the truest job description I can think of.
Tech or platform preferences?
Any platform,
Any problem.
- Squarespace
- Shopify
- Ghost
- + plenty off the beaten path builders
- Make
- Zapier
- Klaviyo
- Kitchen.co
- Stripe
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Termageddon
Squarespace, Ghost, Showit, Cargo, and plenty of tech further off the beaten path. I've wrangled all of them over 17+ years, so I've got zero loyalty nor skin in the game to any one tool, and no reason to sell you the wrong one.
What matters most is determining which platform best supports and holds up under your business, and remains clean and easy to run once I hand it back. Or seamless for me to run, if you'd rather never log in again.
I draw the line here
WordPress
Here we go. I mastered WordPress and worked in it for over 15 years, which is precisely how I know I'm done. These days I migrate people off it, or refer you to a great WordPress developer if you're committed to staying. Hashtag sorry not sorry.
But this is A different conversation
Shopify
Bigger stores often need it, and I'm happy to design and build in it and help keep it running. But I'll often suggest a migration where you're a small store carrying enterprise overhead that you'll never use. Then we find the platform does that fit, Squarespace or otherwise.
Filed under: know thyself.
This is how we do it.
STYLE
Bold, but grounded design
Personality turned all the way up, and still clear, intuitive and easy to move through..
CLASS
Premium, high-touch process
Straightforward steps and sharp questions, with support that doesn't waste your time or your brain cells.
GRACE
Hand-off ready
You'll know what's what on your site. And on the days you'd rather not deal, you've got a designer on retainer who already speaks your brand and your tech.
Based in Los Angeles.
Serving clients worldwide with a very discerning design eye.
The short
version.
Why work with me?
I care about your business, because your success is mine as well. I bring serious Team Player energy to your project.
— I should charge for life coaching, according to some
I refuse to take shortcuts on the details, especially the ones you'd never see. Yes. Even the alt text.
— (Especially) the heckin’ alt texts.
I'll be honest about what's working and what isn't, even when the answer costs me the project.
oh, the stories I could tell…
I'm not finished until you're beyond proud to send people to your site.
Your glee is literally music to my ears.
one I can show you
Big Sky Limited
Ghost • Stripe • Four currencies • Member-gated fulfillment • Purchase & streaming • Newsletter publishing
A signed hardcover with a feature film inside every copy, in four currencies and a $5/mo members zone, all on one site. No platform did it out of the box, so I built it on Ghost and wired the rest by hand. Then I ran it for six years.
22% of the people who signed up paid.
Work With Us
Intro about who you work with, what you do, etc. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Now Booking for December 2025
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
“Inveniam viam aut faciam!
”